Ocean tides (a cursed child and a battle against fate)
by Misila
Summary: The water is alive. Once you dive in, it will immediately bare its fang and attack. It knows, it feels. And it yearns for Rin's life. (But Haruka needs him alive)
1. Chapter 1

_Free!_ does not belong to me. Neither does _High Speed!_

This fic was written for the _For the Future Festival_.

* * *

So.

This is the mer!Haru/Future Fish AU I've been wanting to write for ages and nobody asked for. I don't use warnings because I strongly believe they spoil the story, but here's one spoiler-free enough: I'm cruel.

* * *

 _ **Ocean tides (a cursed child and a battle against fate)**_

.

 **I**

.

Haruka knows he shouldn't be there.

It's not like it's _forbidden_. It's not the first time he goes to the surface more often than he strictly needs to. But his grandmother, Makoto– they don't like it when Haruka breaches alone. Even his best friend says it's dangerous, because more often than not Haruka gets so lost in his own little world that he forgets there are humans up there who can see him.

And that is bad. If a human sees a person with a tail instead of two legs, they'll probably try to catch him. They seem to have forgotten that stupid myth about mermaids' flesh and immortality, fortunately; but now there is a different risk: scientists, humans that cut living beings out of curiosity. Or that's what the ones who have been living on land say when they come back, according to Haruka's grandmother.

Despite all that, he doesn't feel in danger now. Even if the humans in the ship see him, they seem too busy with the water flooding in to pay attention to a kid's curiosity. The storm shakes the water's surface, making the ship sway dangerously. There is no way it won't end up at the bottom of the sea, where Haruka and other children his age will later explore it; and the humans probably know it, judging by their terrified cries.

So Haruka gets a bit closer, until he can make out their words. He's learnt a bit of their language, but it's not enough to understand what they're saying. They are running from one side of the deck to the other, desperately bailing out water and screaming what he thinks are orders and warnings. All of them, except one.

It catches Haruka's eye from the beginning, and it's not only because that figure is the smallest human there. A lightning flash lets him see a red, red hair that reminds him of blood and luminescent jellyfish and those seaweeds he's not supposed to eat until he wants to get a stomach ache. But Haruka doesn't stop looking at the human child, the first one he's ever seen, the only colour in that black storm.

It's after an especially loud thunder that the first man falls overboard.

Scared, Haruka quickly swims farther from the ship. He can't help the man, and he doesn't want to be seen. But then the human child moves, and even from the distance Haruka can hear cries. It's hard to tell, but Haruka thinks it's a boy, like him, if only because that voice is slightly deeper than his. He seems to be calling the other human, and trying to dive into the sea. A bigger human grabs him and pulls him far from the water, and the child's screams get almost louder than the roaring sky.

He shouldn't stay, Haruka thinks. He's been told that tale too many times –the ship that sinks in the middle of a big storm– and even if he doesn't trust humans he doesn't want to see them die either. It's late, and it'd be better if he came back home, where Makoto must be worried. The longer he stays on the surface, the more chances he has to be caught.

But he's waiting, and Haruka doesn't realize what for until the sea swallows the whole ship.

Heart beating faster than usually when he does something he shouldn't do, Haruka dives and swims towards the ship. He sees humans struggling to get to the surface, boxes and fishing nets, and other things the sea child doesn't know the name of. He doesn't pay attention to them; as soon as he spots the human boy, he forgets they are there.

It's not right, and Haruka can't explain, even to himself, why he is putting himself and his people in danger this way. But he doesn't like death, and that child with red hair is the only human he can carry, and he doesn't want him to die. So he hugs the boy's waist from behind, ignoring the weak kicks his tail gets. The stranger is quickly losing his strength, and probably his consciousness too, and Haruka swims with the limp body in his arms until the surface to give him the air he needs.

But the boy doesn't move, even if his mouth and nose are above the water. His bright, red hair covers his face now, but the child doesn't react even when Haruka tentatively brushes it away.

Haruka looks around. The shore isn't too far away –for someone like him, anyway–, but _that_ is definitely forbidden. Nonetheless, he can't just leave the human child there; he knows the boy isn't dead because he can feel his heart beating against his ribs, but the kid isn't well and Haruka wants somebody to help him.

(He didn't risk to be caught for the human child to die in his arms.)

Haruka makes his mind when he shakes the boy once more and he doesn't react at all. He knows he'll be slower without using his arms, but his tail is still strong enough. He hugs the human tighter and swims towards the shore, the stubborn heart pounding beneath his hands helping him forget there are more people dying, drowning.

"Don't die," he whispers into the child's ear, trying not to think about how tired he's getting, or how he'll come back home after leaving the boy. He doesn't want his efforts to be for nothing.

Haruka rolls onto his belly when they finally get to the beach, pushing the child as far as he can from the water. He then crawls to his side and grabs his shoulders, and he doesn't even have to shake the boy for him to start coughing and throwing up water. His eyes –scared, lost– open as he sits up and looks around, apparently without noticing Haruka.

"Dad," he mumbles, rubbing his eyes with his knuckles. His eyes fix on the sea as he lets out a terrified gasp. "Dad!"

And then, to Haruka's astonishment, he struggles to get up and runs towards the water.

He never gets there. Haruka stops him with a flick of his tail, throwing the child back to the sand. Stubbornly, the boy stands up again, his whole body trembling when Haruka thwarts his second suicide attempt.

Because it's either that, or that the boy has forgotten that he needs air to live.

"Dad!"

He doesn't try to get up a third time. He's shaking so violently now that Haruka gets afraid. It must be too cold for him, he thinks, but before he can do anything he notices the sounds the boy is making; his breathing isn't quiet, and judging by the expression on his face, whatever is happening to him must hurt.

"Dad." There is something wet, something that isn't rain, running down the boy's cheeks. It doesn't stop no matter how hard he presses his fists on his eyes. "Dad! Dad!"

With each sob comes the only word Haruka has heard him say, but the sea child doesn't understand the whole picture until he remembers his lessons and thinks about its meaning.

Dad. _Father_.

The man who fell from the ship.

He must be already dead.

Haruka tries to remember what he knows about the human's language.

"I am sorry," he says, but the boy doesn't seem to hear him.

So Haruka, hoping other humans help the child, hoping he doesn't get into the angry sea again, hoping he stops crying, dives back into the water.

The next day, Haruka makes a seaweed crown and leaves it in the sunken ship.

.

It's not like, you know, Rin has a death wish or something. He enjoys life a lot, even the days when he feels like the air itself is so heavy he can't get up, even when it gets so _solid_ he can't breathe and he can feel the sea singing an apology.

It's not like he's a coward, either. He just hates storms and panics a little whenever he accidentally swallows water, and sometimes wakes up calling his father in the middle of the night and can't get back to sleep no matter how important the next day is. He doesn't even fear the water like his sister does– he can swim perfectly fine, he just respects nature.

And it's not like being the only survivor of the wreck that took his father away scarred Rin for the rest of his life.

That's what he wants to prove, he thinks as he swims further away from Iwatobi. He's already tired and his muscles are starting to hurt, but he can see Sukishima; he'll get there, and then he'll get back, and Mikoshiba will have to swallow his stupid " _It's okay if you are scared of the sea_ " and Rin will feel… better, he hopes.

Though right now, Rin can't help but feel a bit sorry for Sousuke. He hasn't said it –he'd never say it–, but he knows his best friend worries too much about him. He'll be fine, though.

Or that's what he thinks, until he breathes in water and starts to cough.

 _It's sunny_ , he thinks, feeling his heartbeat in his eardrums.

 _I can swim_ , he tells himself, arms and legs flailing around as the water darkens.

 _I'm fine. I'll be fine. It's just water_.

But staying afloat gets more and more difficult as the heat leaves his body, his joints starting to hurt from the cold. Rin looks around frantically, looking for something to hold onto, but there is nothing and when more water gets into his nose he can't find anything to reassure himself.

He's at the sea.

He's alone.

He's going to die.

Even though he knows it, Rin never stops struggling, at least until his limbs stop obeying him. He doesn't want to drown, doesn't want to end up at the bottom of the sea like his father, like his grandfather and every man in his family. His tears freeze before they leave his eyes when he can't resurface again.

It's like that night all over again. Rin sees his father falling from the ship, feels strong arms stopping him from jumping. He sees everyone sinking with the ship, struggles to get away from the cold grip around his waist that can't be anything but Death. Rin wants to live, but sleep is too tempting and finally he gives in to his fate.

Until he sees a deep, clear blue, and somehow his brain is still working and Rin _knows_ he has seen it before, through fear and tears and a paralysing panic that nothing but exhaustion could stop that time.

But then his head surfaces and Rin's instincts take over the situation. He can only grab the arms that keep him afloat while he coughs and spits and shudders, a sharp pain piercing through his temples as he empties his stomach and his lungs. His head lolls back until it's leaning on something cold but undeniably solid, and Rin can only look at the sky, barely aware that they are moving, and hear a laboured breathing next to his ear.

 _I should be dead_ , he reasons somewhere within his dazed mind. But he knows he is alive, if only because his stomach and his head hurt so badly. Death can't be this bothersome.

Besides, he can feel the surface his back is leaning on and he can tell it's skin. The skin of someone who isn't letting him face the consequences of his own stupidity.

Rin reacts only when he feels he's no longer in the water, when the cold arms stop hugging his waist and he's laying on a hard surface. His whole body hurts, from swimming and almost drowning, but he turns his head, hoping to see who just saved his life.

And the blue is back, looking at him from the most beautiful eyes Rin has ever seen. They are half hidden under a mop of thick black hair that makes his pale skin look so white it almost shines.

Rin wants to touch the stranger.

He faintly wonders how much time his brain has been oxygen-deprived, because that's not the first thing one should think about after almost drowning. He giggles and the boy frowns.

"What's your name?" Rin asks, his voice hoarse.

At the sound of his voice, the boy moves back, and Rin doesn't really understand why he's afraid of someone he could have easily let drown.

"You were there," Rin adds, and even if he doesn't dare stir up his worst memory he knows it's true. He sits up, hoping not to scare off his saviour, just to take a better look at him.

He can't help but think his brain must be seriously damaged.

Because what he sees makes no sense. The boy… isn't exactly a boy. His upper half looks definitely human –too pale to look healthy, but a _rather attractive_ human nonetheless–, but then… where his hips should be there are two fins, one on each side of his body, and instead of legs, a grey tail spreads out on the rock where he's somehow sitting, in the way a seal would. The end of his tail hangs from the rock, calmly splashing the water.

"I know you," he says, his voice low and strangely calm –and definitely masculine–, as if Rin hadn't been about to drown minutes ago. "You are the child of the ship."

Rin bites his lower lip.

"You… you were there then." The merman nods. "Everyone else died." He nods again. "Why did you save me?"

The boy looks away.

"The others were too heavy for me then." Rin grits his teeth together, suddenly angry because he owes his life to that stranger, because nobody else does. Because what everyone called miracle when he was eight wasn't that, just that weird animal's pity. "Why were you swimming here?"

"Why do you care?"

The merman's look darkens, and a part of Rin fears he'll drown him.

"Humans are more stupid than I thought," he muses, as if he had just remembered and wasn't doing that just to annoy Rin. He jumps back into the water, and Rin can only see his head.

"It's the second time I save your life," the merman says. "There won't be a third."

.

That night, the sea is calm. There's not a cloud in the sky, and the full moon shines so bright the nearest stars look pale compared to it.

Meters above the surface, where the night is darker and only instinct and echolocation make it possible to know where to go, though, everything is very different. Lighted up only by luminescent jellyfish locked up inside glass bottles, blood flows from the sea people as they are bitten, beaten or sliced. It's almost impossible to see, but the smell is undeniable and makes Haruka feel sick.

Hugging his tail to stop it from waggling around, he tries not to move, willing his heart to stop beating this fast, knowing he'll only get himself caught and slaughtered. Or maybe they'll judge him first, only to execute him in front of his people. He closes his eyes, knowing sight is a useless sense right now.

He wishes he could stop listening, too. He can hear the cries, the screamed warnings and the sound dying people make. He can barely listen to the enemy's order – _Find him, find him_ – and curls up tighter, feeling sea people swimming above him and knowing he won't be able to move until they're gone.

And then he feels it. Haruka is never sure if he listens or senses Makoto's voice, because for some reason they can produce ultrasounds higher than other sea people and nobody can hear them unless they get back to an understandable frequency. It used to be a game, when he and Makoto were children.

Now it's the safest way for Haruka to get out of there alive.

' _Swim just over the bottom and go south_ ,' Makoto orders. ' _They're coming for you_.'

Haruka doesn't need his best friend to remind him that people are dying because of him.

' _You have to run away_ ,' Makoto goes on, and Haruka would cover his ears if he didn't know it's useless. ' _Haru? Haru, please, say something_.'

He stays silent, cringing when he recognizes the next cry as one of a baby's.

' _Haru!_ '

Haruka feels the ridiculous need of biting his tail. He used to do that when he was little, a childish nervous habit. He still wants to do that sometimes.

' _Wait a bit_ ,' he replies. He gets ready, sharpening up his ears and knowing he'll have to be fast at some point, that no matter how stealthily he swims, the others will listen, and when he listens to Makoto's relieved reply he pushes forward with his tail.

It's not long until he feels other people chasing after him. Haruka doesn't bother to look back, just grits his teeth as he swims south, praying they at least don't realize who they are pursuing, that he'll lose them and find Makoto soon, that–

A sharp pain stings his tail, and Haruka crashes into the rock he was planning to dodge. The ache in his shoulder mixes with the agony spreading from his lower half, and the sea man turns around to find a spear piercing his tail. He doesn't need light to know there are at least five people surrounding him– he can sense their heartbeats. As a pained gasp escapes from his mouth, Haruka removes the weapon from his flesh and tries to figure out if there's someone above him.

"Who is it?" asks a voice, coming from behind Haruka. It's a female one.

"It's too dark…"

' _Haru?_ ' Makoto's voice reaches him, frantic and worried, and only then Haruka realizes he instinctively called his friend. ' _Haru, are you alright?_ '

"Bring the light."

There's no one between Haruka and the surface, and the sea man is confident he'll be able to breach before they catch him, even if he's wounded and the smell of his own blood, floating around him, is making him nauseous. When he gets there… Haruka shakes his head, trying to both stop that train of thought and clear his mind.

' _Don't wait for me_ ,' he tells Makoto as he starts swimming to the surface, trying his best to ignore the excruciating pain he feels with each movement of his tail. He hears startled cries, but he doesn't pay them any attention; for once he knows what to do, and he'd rather not get distracted.

' _What?! Haru, you're wounded, aren't you? What are you doing? Haru!_ '

' _I'll be fine_ ,' Haruka replies. Just a few meters. There are less people following him now; most sea people fear the surface. ' _Don't you dare come for me. Hide until they're gone._ '

He never knows what Makoto replies, because in that moment Haruka's head surfaces to an unbelievably calm night, feeling, when he takes air, that he's never breathed properly before. He looks around until he finds the coastline and swims towards it, knowing he'll be safer on land.

As he approaches the shore, he tries to remember the theory for shifting. It isn't easy, because moving hurts and Haruka can barely keep his head above the surface and he still can smell the blood and he doesn't know if he'll be able to stay conscious, but it's better than thinking about what hides under the sea.

.

"Drugs again, huh?"

"It's always drugs."

Rin nods. It's the second time this month they have to deal with this kind of thing. At least, now they've found the dealers' hiding place, that tiny house on the cliff. Rin can't help but feel disgusted with those people.

"I'm going for a walk," he announces, and Sousuke raises an eyebrow. "What? Ai and Nakagawa are coming, aren't they?"

His friend snorts, but doesn't stop Rin.

It doesn't take long for the young policeman to find a way to get to the rocks below the cliff. One would think that, after nearly drowning twice –and being saved both times by a merman– Rin has learnt his lesson, but the sea has always fascinated him. It's deadly, yes, but it's also beautiful and mysterious and Rin both fears and loves it at the same time.

Besides, and that's not something Rin would admit out loud, he wants to see that boy again. Preferably when he's not having a panic attack or trying to regain his breath. It'd be nice, even though he knows people would call him crazy if he told them.

When he gets to the rocks, at first he thinks he's dreaming. That he just imagined it because he was thinking about him. But as Rin approaches –slowly, not wanting him to run away–, he finds out he's very real. And it's _him_ , the boy he owes his life, the one who is curled up on a rather large rock, so still that Rin needs some seconds to realize that he is, in fact, breathing, and…

Something is off. Rin stops abruptly when he realizes that there's no tail, but starts running when he finds his pale legs painted red. He stops again, though, when the former merman's head snaps up and he bares his teeth, like a cornered animal. His blue eyes shine with something that Rin has seen several times due to his job– pain, desperation, and a glint of madness.

"Hey," he starts. "You… you're the one from those times, aren't you?"

"You're the stupid human," the other snarls, as if to himself. He leans his head on his arms.

Rin takes a step forward, and the merman growls.

"Oi, I'm not going to kill you." Blue eyes keep looking at him suspiciously. "What happened? You're wounded."

The merman mumbles something, then shudders violently, closing his hands into fists.

Rin takes a look at the blood puddling around him.

"You have to see a doctor. Or someone who can help you," he quickly adds when the merman shakes his head. "Would you let me do anything?" he offers.

"Why?"

Rin takes another step. This time, the stranger doesn't move.

"Because you need it. And because I owe you."

The merman tries to sit up, but his arms tremble too much. Something tells Rin not to interfere, though, so he watches as the man finds a more upright position after some unsuccessful attempts.

"No… hospital," he says, and he manages to make it sound like an order. As if he weren't the one bleeding out.

"Deal." Rin gets closer to him, finding the source of the bleeding in a wound on his thigh. It's not until he wraps his scarf around the stranger's leg that he realizes the merman is naked. And now he looks _definitely_ like a male human. "Okay, we'll go to my house," he decides, taking off his jacket and putting it on the man's shoulders. Rin senses his muscles tensing through the fabric at the contact. "Do you have a name, by the way?" he asks, partly because he can see the stranger is struggling not to lose consciousness, partly because he's truly curious.

"Haruka."

Rin can't supress his laughter.

"Sorry," he apologizes without meaning it when he notices Haruka's glare. "It's just that… for humans it's considered a girly name. And I shouldn't laugh, because my name is girly, too." The glare dissolves into a curious gaze. "Oh, and Haruka, I'm afraid I'll have to carry you, since you can't walk."

Haruka nods, never looking away.

"What's your name?" he asks as Rin walks with him towards the police car.

"Rin." Haruka repeats his name several times, as if tasting the sound, until the letters mix and he's slurring. "Hey," Rin shakes him a little. "Don't sleep now."

"I've never walked," the merman mumbles out of the blue. Despite his attempts to make him stay awake, Rin knows he'll probably be unconscious soon.

"Oh, about that, what happened to your tail?" Rin opens the back door of the car, making sure not to drop Haruka.

"…shifted."

"Huh?" Rin looks at him when he lays him on the back seat, glad they always have a blanket there because Sousuke gets cold easily, but Haruka has lost the battle against sleep.

.

Rin tries his best not to look away under Sousuke's intense stare.

"Okay. Repeat that without laughing."

He rolls his eyes.

"You heard me the first time."

Rin turns around to make sure Haruka is still there, though he couldn't escape even if he wanted. Rin wasn't sure about how his body metabolizes medicines (and Haruka didn't trust those), so he's had to go through the pain of having his wound stitched up. Rin knows his job isn't perfect, but he's now glad he's grown up reading his mother's nursing books.

Haruka had fallen asleep five minutes before Sousuke got to the apartment he shares with Rin, after refusing to eat anything. He's running a fever, though it isn't too high and he'll probably feel better when he wakes up.

"So this guy," Sousuke points at the figure sleeping on Rin's bed, "was near the drug dealers' hideout. And you decided to take care of him, instead of taking him to a hospital."

"He didn't want to," Rin explains.

"Are you sure he isn't just high?"

" _Sousuke_."

"What if he's a criminal?"

"He isn't."

"How do you know it?"

Rin blushes.

"I… I just know it."

" _How_?"

"Stop acting like my mother," Rin huffs, walking towards the bed with the excuse of checking Haruka's temperature. Sousuke grabs his arm. "It's none of your–"

"Rin, you're a _policeman_ ," Sousuke states. "And you are helping an unidentified man. If he's someone dangerous…"

"He isn't." Well, to be honest Haruka _does_ look somewhat dangerous, at least when he's not injured. "He's not a criminal."

Haruka's fever is lower now, and Rin sighs in relief. However, Sousuke is still waiting for an answer.

"Okay," he sits on the side of the bed. "I'll tell you if you don't look at me as if I had lost my mind."

Sousuke nods, folding his arms over his chest.

"Hmmm…" Rin looks at Haruka; at least he is sleeping and not judging him. "Do you remember when my father died?" Sousuke doesn't answer, and Rin doesn't expect him to. Of course he remembers the day Rin snuck into his father's ship because he was curious about his job, only to be found terrified and hypothermic the next day.

"So… I was the only one on that ship who didn't drown." Sousuke nods. "And… it was because of him. I don't know why he did it, but he took me to the beach. A-and that time I tried to swim to Sukishima, it was him who saved me, too. I thought I'd die the same way my father had, but–"

"Do you expect me to believe that?" Sousuke raises his eyebrow, eyeing the sleeping stranger. "I'm not calling you a liar," he clarifies. "But I saw that storm, Rin. No human could have swum there; people don't say it was a miracle for nothing."

Haruka frowns, without waking up.

"But he's not human. That's the point."

" _What_?"

Rin scratches the back of his head, makes up his mind and gets up.

"Ask him when he wakes up. I'm going to the grocery store."

"Now?"

Rin stops before closing his bedroom's door.

"Yeah. Better take care of him until I come back."

.

The first logic thought that crosses Haruka's mind as he drifts towards consciousness is that he needs to breach for air.

However, when he tries to flap his tail a strangled cry comes out of his mouth, and it's only then that he realizes that the sound is clearer than it would be in the water. He's warmer than usually, too. He's definitely somewhere completely new.

He doesn't open his eyes. First he listens, because he never knows when somebody could try to kill him, as memories flood back to him.

 _Ah_. Yes. He remembers being on the verge of fainting when he got to the shore, shifting hoping legs would be more useful to climb up a rock and rest. And he now understands why his people don't recommend shifting when one is injured. Haruka is almost sure he passed out at some point due to the pain.

And then, him.

The stupid human.

Haruka remembers having wanted to bite his hands off at some point, but in his defence what he was doing to his leg was agonising. It still hurts, now that he thinks about it. Surprised at how _easy_ is making his legs obey him, he curls up under the blankets the human –Rin– covered him with when he landed his hand on his forehead and said he had a fever, grateful for not feeling so cold now.

"You're awake, aren't you?"

Haruka opens his eyes as he sits up, so quickly he hurts his already sore shoulder. Frantically looking around, he finds the source of the words –a tall, dark-haired man with a guarded expression and the same clothes Rin had when he found Haruka–, and it takes him less than a second to decide he doesn't like that human in the very least.

"Who are you?"

"Official Sousuke Yamazaki." He must notice that doesn't mean much for Haruka, because he quickly clarifies: "I'm Rin's friend. And you are going to bring him trouble."

It's not like Haruka had much of an option when Rin found him, he thinks.

"Where is Rin?"

"I don't know. By the way, is what he says true?" Haruka tilts his head, without trusting that man in the slightest. "That you're not human."

Haruka curls his fingers into fists, and suddenly he wants to get out of there as soon as he can. What if… What if this man isn't human? What if he came to catch Haruka?

"It is not your business," he mumbles. "Where is Rin?"

It's not that Haruka trusts Rin, but at least he knows for sure the stupid human is exactly _that_ , a human. He wouldn't have been about to drown twice if that hadn't been the case.

"I already answered that. What about you?"

Haruka wraps the blankets around himself, barely noticing the little scratches and wounds over his pale skin. He looks for a way to get out, but the only door is blocked by Sousuke, and it's not like he would get far with a pair of legs he doesn't know how to use anyway.

Sousuke gets a bit closer, and that's all Haruka needs to throw him the first thing he finds, which is something that looks like a little red box. Haruka jumps when the object crashes into the wall and start making high-pitched, repetitive noises, but he quickly looks around for something else to throw at Sousuke.

"What's wrong with you?" Sousuke doesn't raise his voice much, but it echoes within Haruka's skull. "I'm just trying to–"

"Don't get closer!" Haruka warns him, grabbing what looks like a smaller, plain box than the one he just threw.

"Okay," Sousuke holds his hands high. "I won't get closer, but behave like a normal person… or whatever."

They stay like that for a few seconds, until Haruka hears something move farther away and looks towards the sound.

That's all Sousuke needs to jump into action. One moment he's standing next to the door, and then he's over Haruka, grabbing his arms and trying to pry the improvised weapon from his hand. Haruka tries to kick him, to bite him, but he feels weak because of his wounds and Sousuke ends up immobilising him just when Rin's voice reaches them both:

"What are you doing?"

"Rin, help me take this–" Sousuke starts, but he lets out a startled cry when Haruka manages to bite the fingers that are grabbing his right arm. "You beast– Rin, he's going to break your phone!"

"Let go of me!"

"Sousuke, let go of Haru! You're scaring him!"

"I'm not scared," Haruka growls, trying to bite Sousuke again. But somehow he stands up, stops gripping his forearms and steps back until he's at the entrance again, next to a very surprised and a bit angry Rin. Haruka holds the thing Sousuke wanted to take away from him close to his chest as the man rubs his bitten hand.

"Okay, now we are going to behave like rational people," Rin says after a really long sigh, cautiously approaching the bed and stopping at a sensible distance. "Haru, give back my phone. What you have in your hands."

Haruka looks at the… _phone_ , then at Rin, then at Sousuke.

"Sousuke won't do anything to you."

"Is Sousuke human?"

Sousuke snorts.

"I should be the one asking that to you."

"He is," Rin glares briefly at his friend. "I've known him since we were kids, and I've never seen him with a tail." Slowly, Haruka tears his gaze from Sousuke and hands Rin the phone.

"Now that we're friends, can you explain what–"

"We're not friends." Haruka tenses a bit when Rin sits down on the bed, but the conversation has reminded him something. "How long have I been sleeping for?"

"Hm, I found you this morning and you passed out after I stitched up your leg, so I guess… a few hours?"

Haruka tries to free his legs, tangled with the sheets.

"I have to go," he mumbles. "Makoto must be worried," he adds, because Rin helped him and he deserves at least a bit of the truth. Even though if he did it just because Haruka saved him years ago.

"You can't go anywhere like this." Rin puts his arms on Haruka's shoulders. "Anyway, can you please tell Sousuke you're a merman?"

"I'm not a merman."

Sousuke barks out a laughter.

Rin frowns. "Okay, then how would you call someone who is half-human, half-fish?"

"Half-fish, even though we're mammals," Haruka replies. "Or sea people."

"But now you have legs."

"Some of us can shift into this," Haruka explains, ignoring Rin's surprised gasp and Sousuke's sceptical snort. "But I have to go."

"I told you, you're injured." Rin lets go of Haruka's shoulders. "Would you be able to swim without your tail?"

"I'll just shift back–" but Haruka trails off, shuddering as he remembers the pain. He'll probably faint again, not to mention the damage to his wound. He can't go back, not yet. "Can I stay here until I heal?"

"Of course." Rin smiles, and somehow it doesn't bother Haruka. It's not because he stopped the bleeding from his wound– his bright expression doesn't have anything to do with that. He still frowns when Rin's hand lands on his forehead. "Your fever is going up again… I brought you fish. I figured out you'd like it, since you live in the sea. Do you want to eat a bit?"

Haruka nods. He lays down as Rin and Sousuke get out of the room, waiting for his food, but falls asleep before they come back.

.

Haruka has never eaten cooked food before, and Rin can't help but feel pleased when he finds out how much the merman –or sea man, as he prefers– likes it. Even through the daze of his fever, his eyes light up whenever he picks a bit of fish and gets it into his mouth– because he doesn't know how to use cutlery. He doesn't say it, but the way he hands Rin the plate makes it clear he wants to eat more.

He falls asleep before Rin gets out of the room, and this time the policeman doesn't have the heart to wake him up. It must be exhausting, he thinks, facing so much change in such a short time span. So he washes the dishes as he tries his best to answer Sousuke's questions.

"How long do you plan to have him living here?"

"Until he's fully healed, I guess," he answers, rinsing a plate.

"I live here too, you know. And he's already tried to harm me."

"He's the one wounded, and you scared him," Rin reasons. "Besides, he's in my bedroom."

"And he being quite handsome helps, doesn't it?"

Rin drops a fork into the sink with a loud _gong_.

"That's– You're stupid."

"You too." When Rin turns around, he's surprised to see how serious Sousuke looks. "Be careful."

When he gets to his bedroom, Rin lays out a futon next to the bed where Haruka sleeps, calmer now that he isn't heating up. As he rolls over, trying to sleep even though Haruka is using his pillow, Rin notices a pair of blue eyes staring at him.

"What?" he whispers.

"Why are you sleeping on the floor?"

"Because you've taken over my bed."

Haruka blinks, slowly, several times.

"I don't need all the bed. And I don't mind sleeping on the floor."

Rin raises his eyebrows.

"Do you usually sleep on a rock or something?"

"I have a bed made of seaweed," Haruka replies, as if offended by Rin's question. "I used to, anyway."

Rin frowns, feeling like he's stepping on a landmine.

"What happened?" As he feared, Haruka turns over until all Rin sees from him is his back. He tries one last time: "Does it have anything to do with how I found you this morning?"

Even in the dim room, Rin can see how Haruka's muscles tense.

"Yes."

Rin doesn't realize he's sat up until he sees his arm stretched out, as if to touch Haruka. He silently curses himself and lays back down.

"I'm sorry."

Haruka curls up, and doesn't speak for so long Rin starts to think he's asleep when he hears his voice.

"You didn't do anything."


	2. Chapter 2

**II**

.

Haruka's first instinct when he feels a dry hand on his shoulder is to swim away. Once more, he can't; and once more he grits his teeth and curls around his wounded leg before looking up and finding Rin staring down at him. He's dressed like when he found him again.

"What," he mumbles.

"I've got to work," Rin explains in a whisper. "Sousuke doesn't have anything to do today and will be here, so ask him if you need something until I get back."

Haruka nods and falls asleep quickly after Rin exits the room. He'd rather die of starvation than asking anything to Sousuke.

He wakes up again at midday and listens to Sousuke's steps outside the room. Haruka only starts thinking about getting up and finding something to eat after looking around and finding absolutely nothing to distract himself with.

He stops when he looks through the window, though.

Haruka saw that new world yesterday, when Rin brought him to his home, but he was too weak to realize what he was seeing. Now, after getting the rest he needed, he can properly look at the trees, the birds –the sky is the same no matter where he is– and those strange metallic manatees. Cars, Rin called them.

Haruka has learnt about human culture, the same way he's studied the language the humans who live near his tribe speak, knowledge his people have thanks to those who spend a long time on land; but still there are things he's ignorant of. He remembers the square thing Sousuke and Rin called phone. It's no longer on the bedside table, but Haruka wants to know why it's so special.

He presses his face against the glass. There are people walking on the street; they are all covered in clothes, and Haruka doesn't understand why, because it's not cold and they don't seem feverish. Humans are weird, he decides, but then he sees a flash of red and even though he's still far from the house Haruka recognizes Rin getting closer.

When he hears the door opening, Haruka is still looking through the window, his mind wandering about how he'd like to touch the green leaves of the trees. He turns around, though, and seconds later Rin walks into the room.

"Hey," he seems tired despite the smile he forces on his face. "Sousuke said you've been here all morning. Aren't you hungry?"

"Where's the warm fish?" Haruka asks at the same time.

Rin scratches the back of his head.

"Oh, yeah, I should show you… Can you walk?"

"I don't know. I've never tried."

Rin nods.

"Okay, first of all, you need to get dressed." He opens a wooden door behind which there are those clothes. "What's your favourite colour?"

"Blue. Or purple."

"Too bad I only own dark clothes." Rin throws some of them to the bed, and Haruka takes one and tries to figure out how it works. "That's a t-shirt," Rin explains as he gets close. "Here goes your head, and here your arms. Too hard for you?"

Haruka frowns, mutters " _This is stupid"_ and listens to Rin's advices before getting dressed on his own. When he's done, he's wearing black trousers and a black… _tank top_ , Rin called it, and black pants under the trousers because Rin insists it's more hygienic that way. Haruka doesn't really understand what the point of wearing more clothes when it's not cold is –not to mention Rin's clothes are too big for him–, but the redhead's face is flushed when he tries to explain the reason, so he doesn't press the issue.

Yet, at least.

"Do you want to try to walk?" Rin asks after he comes back from the bathroom wearing a fresh set of clothes. Haruka nods and Rin offers him his hands. "Hold on me."

Walking isn't as difficult as it seemed. At first Haruka has trouble deciding which foot he has to move first, but soon his main problem is the pain of his wound every time he leans on the injured leg. He settles for grabbing Rin's arm, who happens to be only a little bit taller than him.

"It'll get easier when your leg heals," Rin promises. "Well, let's go to the kitchen."

Humans, Rin explains, can't eat raw food most of the times. That's why they make it more delicious with fire and spices before eating it. Haruka almost falls to the floor when he sees the redhead making flames; he's not used to it, and it seems dangerous.

"It's okay as long as you're careful," Rin says, laughing. "Don't you mermen do anything similar?"

" _Sea people_ ," Haruka mutters under his breath. "My grandmother used to warm fish up in fumaroles. Makoto tried once, but he got burnt," he recalls. His fingers curl around the edge of the counter.

Rin notices.

"Who is Makoto?" he asks softly.

"My friend." Haruka slowly limps to the window. Unlike Rin's bedroom, he can see the sea from where he stands. Makoto must be dying of worry, he thinks with a pang of guilt. But it's not like Haruka had many options the other night, and he won't be able to shift back until he's fully healed. He hopes his friend is alright, though.

"How is life out there?" Haruka turns around and finds Rin looking at him. "I-I mean. We… Nowadays, humans don't believe in mermen– I mean sea people, anymore; but back when they did, they thought they sang and made sailors fall in love with them and made ships sink."

Haruka raises an eyebrow. Humans have too much imagination.

"But you were a child too then, and you saved me," Rin goes on. "So it's not like that, is it?"

Haruka shakes his head.

"Sea people just lived their life. Sometimes tribes fought for territory, but mine was the biggest one, so we didn't have many problems." He looks through the window again. He feels so stupid for having gotten himself hurt. "I hope they are okay," he whispers, even though he knows –saw, heard, _smelt_ – they aren't.

"Blue, isn't it?" Haruka looks back at Rin, confused. He still looks tired, but now his smile is bigger and truer. "Your favourite colour." Haruka nods. "You'll stay on land for some time, so I'll show you how humans live."

Haruka stays silent for some minutes, frowning as he tries to understand.

"Why?"

"You have both tail and legs. You have the ability to see the whole world, and my room is too boring."

.

Haruka looks good in more colourful clothes, Rin decides. Which isn't much of an achievement, because he would look good even wearing a plastic bag. Maybe it's a merman thing. All myths are based on something real, after all.

He's a fast learner, too. Once Rin tells him how a piece of cloth works, he doesn't need him to repeat it, and after a few hours walking he almost looks as if he had spent his whole life using his legs. He still limps, though, which is why he holds onto Rin's arm for the whole afternoon.

"Is that… _money_?" he asks when Rin pays for his new clothes. Rin wants to believe he's getting better at reading his frowns, and guesses Haruka's annoyed for some reason.

"Yes. Don't you like it?"

Haruka doesn't answer until they are on the street again, rolling a coin between his fingers.

"Money is stupid."

"Said the communist," Rin replies.

"What is a communist?"

"Forget it." It seems too soon to tell Haruka about politics and philosophy. "Why is it stupid?"

"You can't eat it," Haruka points out. "Sea people trade food." He says it as if it were the most obvious concept in the world.

"Humans aren't that simple," Rin replies. "Anyway, do you want to go to the cinema?"

"Is that the thing that shows stories?" Haruka looks as interested as when Rin told him about cooking food, his eyes bright like a child's.

"Yes. Let's go."

.

Rin's ulterior motive isn't, like Sousuke will tease him for later, seducing Haruka or anything. It's stopping that strange melancholy from darkening the blue gaze that saved his life twice. He can't make it disappear, but at least it hides behind Haruka's childish wonder when Rin shows him things he's never seen before.

As Haruka's leg heals, Rin takes him whenever he doesn't have to work to the cinema, to the mall, to the amusement park. He also talks about a movie about penguins that will come out soon, and they watch the trailer together on Rin's laptop. Rin also shows Haruka shrines and temples, which make the sea man ask a lot of questions about religions. One day, Rin buys him a book about mythology, and after that some of their afternoons are quieter, with both of them sitting on the living room in silence, Haruka reading and drawing the creatures his book talks about and occasionally asking Rin when he doesn't understand a word.

Rin realizes taking Haruka to the aquarium isn't a good idea when he comes back from buying drinks and he finds the sea man with his nose pressed against the glass, a beluga whale on the other side, and notices the look of sadness on his face again.

"What's wrong?" he asks.

"She doesn't like being here," Haruka whispers, without taking his eyes off the animal. "She feels trapped and humans took her child away."

Rin looks at the whale, then at Haruka, then back at the whale.

"Are you telling me you understand it?"

" _Her_." Haruka's hands close into fists. "We all can talk to them. They talk about the places they've been."

Rin steps closer to the glass, eyes glued to Haruka's feet when he feels the beluga's gaze fixed on him.

"Tell her I'm sorry."

The whale swims away in that moment, startling Rin. Haruka looks at him, a tiny, amused smile on his lips as he grabs his pineapple juice.

"She knows."

.

It's not until they get out of the aquarium and Rin takes Haruka to the biggest park he's ever seen –though it's not like he's seen many– that the sea man realizes he doesn't limp anymore, and therefore he doesn't need to hold onto Rin's arm. It doesn't stop him from grabbing it, though. Haruka has seen more humans doing it; it must be normal for them. Besides, Rin doesn't seem to mind.

Or that's what he thinks until Rin points it out.

"Your leg is almost completely healed now," is what he says.

Haruka sits on a bench.

"Humans grab each other's arms. I've seen it."

Rin laughs, plopping down next to him, his cheeks pink.

"Yes, humans who are in a relationship usually do it." Haruka tilts his head. "A _romantic_ relationship," Rin specifies.

By now, Haruka knows that a human romantic relationship is somehow like the way sea people find a partner to raise children. There are a lot of those in the films he's seen with Rin.

"Do humans…?" Haruka trails off, trying to figure out the best way to ask it. Besides him, Rin looks at him curiously. "Do humans mind the sex of their partner?"

Rin leans on the back of the bench, looking at the sky, pensive.

"Sometimes. Mostly, there are humans who don't like the sex of other people's partners."

Haruka frowns. That doesn't make sense.

"Why?"

"You say it quite often." Rin looks at him, smiling softly. "Humans are stupid."

Nonetheless, and even though they aren't in a romantic relationship, Rin offers his arm when they get back to the house and Haruka accepts it, not knowing why his stomach is suddenly shrinking, as if they were doing something forbidden.

.

Rin didn't know sea people had nightmares.

He feels stupid for not reacting sooner, though, when he wakes up in the middle of the night and Haruka is making sounds that seem all but human. Rin jumps from the futon and sits on the bed, shaking Haruka's shoulder as he dodges the arms that flail around in utter terror, realizing when Haruka's eyes snap open and he gasps that he was talking in a language nobody on land can understand.

"Some of us are trying to sleep!" Sousuke yells from the adjacent room, obviously annoyed.

But Rin doesn't pay him attention, not when Haruka trembles and covers his eyes with his forearm, still muttering something in that strange language of his.

"Hey, what did you–" Rin starts, but cuts off when a strangled sob escapes Haruka's parted lips.

"They'll kill them all," Haruka whispers. "Makoto, Ren and Ran… and Nagisa, and Rei. They won't stop until they find me, and they can't… they… I'm here." He sits up and hugs his legs, drawing his knees up his chest.

Rin cautiously puts a hand on his shaking shoulder. The last thing he thinks about is that Haruka is, again, naked, because he can't sleep fully clothed.

"What happened?"

This time, Haruka doesn't turn over. He looks at him, and even though he isn't crying Rin sees the grief he's been trying to get rid of for weeks among a kind of fear he doesn't quite understand.

"Sea people don't usually like killing our own species," he explains, too exhausted to refuse. "That's why, when there's a war, it ends when the leader of one side is arrested or killed, and ordinary people rarely get hurt."

"A lot of small tribes joined forces to defeat the biggest one– the one that is mine. I was born when the Oracle predicted it, so I was chosen to be their leader… They –the other tribes– know the rules, but they are taking advantage of them. They won't give up unless all their leaders get arrested. And meanwhile they are killing my people, they will keep doing it unless I surrender– but I'm _here_."

Haruka buries his face behind his arms again.

Rin bites his lip, trying to process all the information. Mermen tribes, underwater wars, murders. And then there's Haruka, who didn't want this, the one who has the key to the peace in his hands…

"So you… Are you planning to surrender?" Haruka nods. "No."

"You make it sound like you could stop me."

"I will if I have to." Rin grabs Haruka's shoulder tighter. "Look, I… I'm human. I don't know how your world works. But I know sacrificing you isn't the answer."

"Actually, it is." Haruka sighs. "My leg is practically healed. I can shift and get back–"

Rin growls.

"I didn't help you so you now go back and get killed."

"You helped me because you thought you should," Haruka replies, looking at Rin again. Slowly, he's getting himself together, his voice stronger. "And now we're even. So I can–"

"We're not."

"Huh?"

Rin swallows down. "You saved my life twice, and I only helped you once. If you insist on making this about equality, then I still owe you."

"Rin–"

"But I don't want to help you because of that," Rin continues, ignoring the interruption. "I… I care, you know."

The moonlight filters through the window, lighting Haruka's eyes in a way that makes them look bluer than ever. They're still full of fear and guilt and sorrow, but they're too big to contain only that. Rin sees caution, sees surprise, but what makes his heart hammer against his ribs like a locked up bird is a sort of hunger he's only gotten a glimpse of before.

"Why," Haruka snarls, and sounds more like a frustrated complain than a question.

Rin presses his lips together, remembering what Sousuke said the first night Haruka spent in his bed. _Be careful_. Now it sounds like he knew exactly that Rin would be stupid enough to fall in love with the beautiful, wild creature that sits before him.

But isn't Rin the man who loves the sea that took his father away, that almost killed him twice?

"Let me help," he insists. "Let me help you live."

Haruka stays still for so long Rin can smell dawn when he finally nods.

"Sleep with me," he pleads, looking at his feet.

It's not like Rin can refuse.

.

Haruka wakes up when Rin is still asleep. He gets out of the bed, careful to not disturb him, and out of habit –habit that started thanks to Rin– he puts on his favourite clothes, a white and blue shirt and dark jeans. He then looks at Rin's peaceful face, silently thanking him for everything he's done.

Haruka doesn't exactly know how Rin thinks he'll manage something he can't even understand; he knows that at some point he'll have to lie, and then Rin will be mad at him, because Rin doesn't like lies; Haruka remembers how angry he got when he was so hungry he ate his and Sousuke's goldfish and tried to convince him that he didn't know anything about the matter.

But he'd rather having Rin angry than having Rin dead. And Rin will be in danger if sea people see him with Haruka.

Haruka rubs the former wound, now a fresh scar, absentmindedly, before walking out of the room and to the kitchen. He finds Sousuke leaning on the counter while he drinks his coffee. His glare almost opens holes in Haruka's back as he opens the fridge and looks for mackerel to cook.

"What was that about?" Sousuke finally says. Haruka looks at him for a second before looking for a pan.

"What was _what_ about?"

Sousuke growls.

"Don't make fun of me. Rin may be too well-meaning to realize, but I'm not. What are you dragging him into?"

"More like he dragged himself into it," Haruka replies, lighting up the hob. He's still fascinated by the tamed fire.

"If something happens…" Haruka presses his lips together. "I don't care about your issues with your fish friends. But if Rin gets hurt because of you, I'll deal with you before they have the chance."

Haruka looks at the mackerel on the pan.

"You'll take care of Rin, too," he starts. He'd never thought he'd find himself plotting with Sousuke, yet there he is, doing plans to keep Rin safe. "I'll call you with his phone when something happens."

Sousuke's mug lands on the counter with excessive force.

"' _When'_?" He repeats, the menacing edge gone from his voice. "Is it really that bad?"

But in that moment, Haruka hears Rin moving in the room, so he doesn't answer.

.

"What are you exactly planning to do?"

Haruka pretends to be looking through the car window until Rin lightly pinches his arm when they stop by a traffic light.

"That hurts."

"Then don't ignore me. I won't be able to help you if I don't know what's happening."

Haruka sighs, remembering Rin's lessons about using his phone.

"I'll call Makoto first."

"How?"

Haruka raises an eyebrow.

"Sound waves. Nobody else can hear when we talk, so it's the safest way to know what's going on."

Rin nods. They don't talk until they get to the beach and Rin parks the car. Haruka stares at the sea as Rin rents a boat, letting him drag him around and curling his fingers around Rin's hand. It feels warm.

"Okay," Rin says ten minutes later, rowing farther from the shore. "How do you call your friend– Haru!"

Haruka has already taken off his shirt and jeans and is getting rid of his pants.

"I can't shift with those." Haruka jumps into the water, ignoring Rin's startled cry.

Luckily, shifting isn't as painful as the other time. Haruka senses a part of him awake as bones and flesh change their layout and he feels his tail again. He swims in circles around the boat, making sure there's nobody near them, before breaching again and finding Rin looking at him dumfounded.

"You are–" Rin clamps his mouth shut when Haruka shows him his tail. "That's amazing," he breathes out.

Haruka is more used to Rin blushing than Rin making him blush.

"Wait a minute," he mumbles, diving again. This time, he takes some minutes to call Makoto, worrying when he doesn't answer. That means that he's either too far away, or…

Haruka surfaces abruptly. "We need to go offshore."

This time, he helps Rin moving the boat until they get farther from land. He dives and tries again, and to his relief he hears Makoto's worried voice.

' _Haru! Haru, is it you? Haru!_ '

' _It's me. Come here._ '

' _What happened? We thought…_ '

' _Come here_ ,' Haruka repeats. ' _I'll tell you_.'

"He's coming," he tells Rin, who quickly looks around. "He's underwater."

"Has he told you anything?"

Haruka shakes his head, but he can't say anything when something grabs his tail, sinking him. He struggles as the water swallows Rin's cry, only stilling when he finds himself being strangled by Makoto's familiar arms.

' _You're okay. You're alive and okay_ ,' he repeats, encircling Haruka with his tail. ' _What were you doing so close to a human?_ '

' _Makoto, let go,_ ' Haruka pushes him away. ' _I'm fine_.' He tries to sound irritated, but he can't not when it's been so long since the last time he saw his best friend. He's alright and that's all Haruka needs. ' _And we can trust the human_.'

' _What?_ '

' _That night I was injured. He took care of me; he's a good person_.'

Makoto looks at him like Haruka had just said he wants to turn into a deep sea-dweller.

' _It's a human!_ '

Haruka rolls his eyes as he swims to the surface.

"Haru!" Rin sighs. "What happened? Did they–"

"No. It was just Makoto." Haruka gestures with his tail for Makoto to breach too. After a few seconds his best friend complies, although further from the boat. "The human doesn't bite," Haruka tells him in the human language.

"Is… Is Makoto like you?" Rin asks. "With a tail, and everything."

"Yeah."

Reluctantly, Makoto gets a bit closer.

"So?" Makoto jumps at the sound of Rin's voice. "What happened while Haru was with me?"

.

Rin realizes now how little he knows about Haruka's world. He understands, more or less, what Makoto is explaining, but he doesn't get why Haruka seems tenser by the minute, when to him the news sound fine.

Apparently, Haruka's tribe was convinced he wasn't dead, so they didn't surrender. The other tribes, though, took that as a way to breaking the Accords, so they have been slaughtering sea people since them. However, Haruka's tribe is still the biggest one; ten of the twelve enemy tribes' leaders have been killed, and they know where the other two are hiding.

Haruka doesn't seem pleased. He's started to swim in circles, splashing around as Makoto finishes his story. Rin can tell he's paled, and he's almost sure Haruka is moving to conceal the tremor that runs through his skin.

"Then it's easy, isn't it?" Rin tries to make him see the good part.

"How many deaths?" Haruka asks Makoto, ignoring the human. The other sea man bites his lower lip, avoiding his friend's gaze, and Haruka swims closer to him. "How many?"

For a second, Rin thinks Makoto is going to dive to avoid answering.

"Around one hundred," he mumbles, though. "But Haru, we're better than them, soon we'll–"

"I have to go."

"No." Rin doesn't realize he and Makoto speak at the same time.

"Just stay here a bit more," Makoto insists. "Then you'll come back."

"They'll keep killing people if they don't see me alive." Haruka mumbles.

"But if you come back now, you'll be vulnerable. If they kill you–"

"They won't kill anybody else," Haruka replies. "Where's Rei? He should know how things are…" Makoto doesn't answer. "Fine. I'll look for him myself."

"Wait!" Haruka stops before diving and turns to look at Rin. "You won't do anything stupid, will you?"

Haruka lowers his head. "I won't. Go home."

Then he dives, followed by Makoto, without even a goodbye.

Rin closes his hands into fists.

 _Liar_.

He can't do anything to help him, though, and that's what makes his heart twist in agony as he stands up and tries to see something below the surface. Even though the sun is high in the sky, all Rin sees are two dark silhouettes that he assumes are Haruka and Makoto.

He finds it odd that they aren't swimming fast. He can bet they're talking about everything they didn't want him to know, and the thought is enough to make his blood boil.

But then he sees more silhouettes surrounding them, and somehow Rin _knows_ they aren't just animals.

The policeman looks around. There's a broken oar at the bottom of the boat; it's not much, but it's a weapon. And even if it's been years since the last time he swam in the ocean, he's always been good at holding his breath. He takes off his clothes and dives with only his swimsuit and the broken oar.

.

Haruka has known someone followed Makoto since his friend has started to talk.

However, he _couldn't_ let Rin just like that. He's probably still worried, but at least now he thinks he knows something and –hopefully– he'll get back to the shore and wait for news there. Haruka doesn't know what will happen –because he's been apart from his people for too long to know how things are exactly–, but if the conflict ends well for him he'll make sure he no longer has any responsibility over the tribe. He never asked for it, anyway.

' _We aren't alone_ ', Makoto points out.

Haruka doesn't even nod. He looks around, already seeing dark figures approaching them thanks to the sunlight, and tenses, ready to fight even though neither he nor Makoto are armed.

"So you weren't dead," Haruka turns around, his back colliding with Makoto's as a female voice speaks. "We were wondering where the biggest tribe's leader could have gone."

"What do you want?" Haruka mutters.

' _Haru_.'

"Isn't it obvious? Just end this senseless war. People are dying, they were dying while you were on holidays."

' _Haru, look–_ '

' _Not now_.'

"Because you were killing them." Haruka can sense Makoto tensing even more behind him.

' _Haru!_ '

' _What?!_ '

"We won't kill anyone else if you surrender."

' _Your human_.'

Haruka forgets strategy. He forgets that he's letting his back exposed for anyone to attack. He even forgets that Makoto is in danger too the moment he looks around and sees Rin diving with what looks like a stick and a determined expression that makes Haruka want to punch him.

Haruka doesn't know if all humans are stupid, but Rin definitely is.

But he's also a strong, incredibly stubborn human, and when his stick lands on a sea man's head Haruka can't help but smirk.

He doesn't have much time to be happy about Rin's abilities, though; soon he needs to dodge attacks aimed at him, though he never stops keeping an eye on Rin as he uses his tail and arms to keep the enemies at bay. The human quickly runs out of air, and a sea woman grabs him when he tries to swim towards the surface.

"Let him go!" Haruka shouts, even though he knows it's useless, as his fist lands on another sea woman's ribs.

"Why?" The woman who keeps Rin immobilised smiles as he chokes out a terrified noise mixed with bubbles and tries to kick her tail. He misses. "If you like the human so much, shouldn't we keep it here, with you?"

Haruka growls. He swims towards her, but a man blocks him.

' _I'll get him. You keep fighting._ ' Makoto's voice has never been so relieving.

Maybe it's sensing more sea people approaching, or maybe it's because Rin lets go of the wooden stick. Maybe both, because Haruka forgets how his body is supposed to move when the human stops struggling.

It's just a second, but it changes everything. Now Haruka isn't attacking, but defending. Now he isn't trying to pry the spear off his enemy, but dodging it. And now his smile has been replaced for a barely concealed fearful expression because Rin isn't moving and Haruka can't do anything but pray that Makoto gets him to the surface soon.

And then, the sharp end of a spear stops centimetres away from Haruka's throat, successfully convincing him to stop fighting.

' _Don't stop_ ,' he orders Makoto before he even senses his friend's hesitation. He can bear a little threat, whereas Rin will die without air.

He sighs when his friend successfully frees Rin and swims with him towards the surface. They barely try to stop him. He's not important.

Haruka is surprised, though, when he finds the sea people looking towards the newcomers. Aren't they supposed to be their allies? He squints, trying to discern something, but he only sees them when they get close.

"Haru-chan!" Nagisa swims towards him, carrying one ball in each hand, but stops when realizes the situation they're in. "Phew, just in time, then." There are three more people behind him, and Haruka recognizes them easily. They're from his tribe.

"It's over," Aki says. "Your leaders are dead."

Three more spears get close to Haruka's neck.

"What?"

"We supposed you wouldn't believe us, so we brought some proof." Nagisa shows what Haruka mistook for balls, and the young sea man feels nauseous. They're heads. "We won."

"It can't be…" The woman that was holding Rin brings her hands to her mouth. "How…?"

"We are a big tribe, after all," Aki explains. She doesn't seem happy. "Now, it'll end here if you stop killing our people, like it's written on the Accords.

Slowly, they back off and Haruka can breathe out some bubbles without feeling the spears pressing into his neck. He watches as their enemies swim away, without another word. It isn't necessary.

Sometimes, it's a blessing that sea people usually like rules so much.

"So?" Nagisa grins. "Where were you, Haru-chan? We were worried, you know."

Haruka almost swallows water, suddenly remembering Rin.

"I'll explain later," he says, already swimming towards the surface.

.

He finds Makoto holding Rin's limp body next to the boat. As soon as he gets close enough, Haruka shakes the human's shoulders and calls his name to wake him up, but Rin doesn't react.

Makoto swims with him a bit farther from Haruka.

"What–"

"Haru," and that's when Haruka notices the sorrow in his eyes, "he's dead."

"No." Haruka reaches his friend and pries Rin from his arms, shaking him harder. "Rin. Rin, wake up." Haruka slaps him softly, but Rin keeps still, his eyes closed as if he were sleeping. "He just swallowed water," he insists, fingers tangling with red hair. It's not the first time it happens, Rin is always motionless before he reacts and starts trying to breathe, but– "Rin. Rin. Rin!"

"Haru, he's dead," Makoto repeats, a bit louder, but he's smart enough not to try to take Rin away from his friend. "His heart… I– I can't hear it."

 _He's not dead_ , Haruka wants to yell, hugging Rin closer. Rin can't be dead; he can't do that to Haruka, not after how troublesome saving him has been for the sea man. _He's alive. He has to be_.

Haruka looks around, looking for something to help Rin. As his hands rest on Rin's bare back, he remembers the pocket where he always carries his phone.

"Help me," he whimpers, swimming towards the boat. Makoto holds Rin while Haruka shifts and climbs up the boat before lifting the human and laying him on the bottom. He still doesn't move, doesn't breathe. "Rin." Cradling the side of his face, Haruka slowly lowers his head until his ear rests on Rin's chest. "Rin."

But he hears nothing.

Hands trembling, Haruka reaches for Rin's trousers, feeling a tiny bit of relief when he finds his phone.

"Makoto," he mumbles, looking at his friend, who bites his lip to stop the tears from escaping his eyes. "Please, take us to the beach."

As the boat starts to move, Haruka remembers Rin's explanations about how that thing works. He lets out a relieved sigh when he reads Sousuke's name on the screen and presses the call button.

It doesn't take more than two seconds for Sousuke to answer. "Rin? Rin, are you alright? Where is your fish–" He trails off when he listens to Haruka's laborious breath. "Haruka?"

"Do something," is all Haruka can say. His voice breaks. "You're his friend. Save him."

There's a rustle on the other side of the line.

"Wait, what happened? Is Rin alright?"

" _No_. He isn't breathing and his heart isn't beating and–" Haruka doesn't even try to supress his sob when he looks at Rin's peaceful face again and remembers how he looked like this in the morning. Except now his lips are purple and his face white, water leaking from the corner of his mouth.

"I'm–" Sousuke stops. "What did you do? Where are you?"

"The beach he told you before we left," Haruka answers. That's easier than thinking about how there's nothing he can do to–

 _Wait_.

"Sousuke?"

" _What_?!"

"Sometimes when people don't breath and don't have a heartbeat they aren't dead," he explains. "Rin told me they can be… they can still live."

Sousuke inhales sharply.

"Have you ever tried CPR?"

"What's that?"

"Okay." Surprisingly, Sousuke stops sounding angry and his voice gets so calm Haruka wonders what's changed. "We… we can still save Rin. Are you listening?"

"Yes."

"Good. Now do what I say. And stop crying."

Haruka doesn't try to lie.

What Sousuke says sounds like the stupidest thing Haruka has ever listened to, but maybe that's the reason it might work. Haruka lays Rin on his back as Sousuke says, presses into his chest rhythmically, blows air into his mouth, feeling Rin's ribs crack under his fingers as Makoto gets them closer and closer to the shore and Sousuke keeps talking.

Haruka doesn't stop doing that even when the boat gets stuck in the sand and Makoto asks him what he's doing. He doesn't reply either; he saves all the air he can to give it to Rin, even though by when he hears Sousuke's voice coming from somewhere that isn't the phone he feels lightheaded. The policeman has to forcefully push him away from Rin, taking his place.

"I've called an ambulance," he says as Haruka silently watches Rin's terribly calm face, trembling under Makoto's cautious touch. "Better get dressed before they arrive."

"Huh? Are you going with them, Haru?"

Haruka nods as he puts his clothes on, almost falling into the water when he hears the ambulance siren. He turns around to see Makoto disappearing under the surface, but he can't feel sorry right now. He can't feel anything, except a blood-freezing fear when those strangers start touching and prodding Rin. He needs to remind himself that they are helping him.

Sousuke holds Haruka's shoulders and helps him walk to the ambulance, probably after realizing he can't stand on his own. Haruka would think he is perfectly alright, but he can sense his fingers trembling as much as his own. And now he seems so nice, so _caring_ , that Haruka wants to scream. He wants Sousuke to be angry, to insult him, to hate him for what he's done.

But he never gets that, and maybe that's the reason he stops trying not to cry when they get to the hospital.


	3. Chapter 3

**III**

.

 _Haruka could already smell the cooked mackerel. He limped towards the kitchen, but stopped when his eyes landed on the living room's wall._

 _"_ _Rin?"_

 _It took Rin two seconds to get to where Haruka stood._

 _"_ _What? Do you need something?"_

 _Haruka nodded and pointed towards the photography. "Who are they?"_

 _He regretted having asked when Rin's expression darkened, even though he was trying to smile._

 _"_ _My parents, my sister and I. Maybe you remember my father."_

 _Haruka focused on the man Rin was talking about. There was nothing on his face that looked like his son's; both Rin and his sister took after their mother. Not that it mattered, anyway._

 _"_ _It's not your fault." Haruka turned to look at Rin. "According to my grandmother, he'd have drowned one way to another…"_

 _"_ _Why?"_

 _Rin folded his arms, leaning on the doorframe. He wasn't looking at Haruka._

 _"_ _It always ends up like that. Every man in my family drowned."_

 _"_ _You haven't."_

 _"_ Yet _." Rin sighed. "I guess they didn't know a merman nice enough to help them." Haruka knew the conversation was over when he noticed how tense Rin's shoulders were, despite his relaxed tone. "I better get back to the kitchen, I don't think you'd like burnt fish."_

 _Haruka stared at the photography for a long time._

 _"_ _You won't," he muttered, quietly enough for Rin not to hear him. "I won't let you."_

.

The wet traces on his cheeks are drying up, but Haruka is far from calm.

He watches as Sousuke walks in circles, focusing on his steps because they are the only distraction he has in that impossible white room. It's the only thing Haruka can do to stop memories from smothering him, because he's already having trouble trying to keep his breathing steady and they don't know anything about Rin yet.

Sousuke says it's a good thing. If there were nothing the doctors could do for him, they'd have already told them. Haruka can only trust him, because he knows nothing about hospitals.

Haruka frowns when Sousuke's pacing comes to a halt.

"I'm going to kill him," he says to nobody in particular, and starts walking again.

Haruka doesn't think Sousuke means it.

He starts counting Sousuke's steps again. He feels like he'll fall if he stops, if he gets caught by his guilt-ridden mind.

.

Rin doesn't really understand why people in books don't remember anything when they wake up. He knows, as soon as he's aware he's regained consciousness, what happened.

And it feels like a nightmare.

He can feel his throat burning, and his head hurts as if a hundred little beings were hammering on his skull; not to mention the sharp pain that pierces through his chest whenever air fills his lungs. But that doesn't stop the fear from freezing his whole body. Rin gasps as he looks around, confused when he doesn't see those people with tails surrounding him.

He then realizes he's not even in the water, but on a dry, warm bed. On reflex he tries to take off the plastic mask that covers half of his face, but something grabs his wrist, making him even more scared as he blinks to focus his sight.

"It's okay." Rin frowns when he recognizes Sousuke's voice and his friend's face gets clearer. "I'm still not sure about what exactly happened, but now you're safe." Rin's eyes dart around until he can make out his surroundings. He's in a white room, and Sousuke isn't his only visitor. Haruka is asleep, curled up on a chair next to where Rin's lays, as if he'd tried not to take up much space.

"Is he alright?" Rin asks, stretching out his arm, but Haruka is too far from the bed.

"I think so. Better than when we got here, anyway." Rin looks at Sousuke, surprised when he sees his friend's distraught expression. "Worry more about yourself. You're the one whose heart stopped," Sousuke spits, suddenly angry.

"I had to," Rin tries to explain. "I wanted to help–"

"Then you should've let your fish deal with his own problems instead of being so stupid. You were _dead_." It's not the first time Sousuke is this harsh, but Rin has never heard that terrified edge on his voice. He wonders if it's because usually when he gets himself in trouble Sousuke has more time to compose himself, or if it's because Rin has never been so close to die. "You wanted to help him? Well, you did great. He wasn't able to say a word until we were allowed to see you."

Rin closes his hands into fists. He's tired, and now he feels guilty and stupid and maybe he deserves the pain running through his body.

"I'm sorry," he mumbles. Sousuke sighs, exhausted. "Did he save me again?"

"That's what it seems. I'm starting to think that having him around isn't that bad for you." Rin looks at Haruka again. "Do you want me to wake him up?"

Rin really wants to apologize, but now isn't the time. So he shakes his head and watches as Sousuke rubs his eyes.

"He'll go back to the sea, won't he?"

Sousuke shrugs.

"I guess."

Rin already knew it, but somehow it's a more painful truth now. He falls asleep wishing he were able to at least hold Haruka's hand.

.

Humans are stupid. Or at least Rin is.

Maybe Haruka should stop thinking of humans as an abstract entity, because the two ones he knows are quite different from each other.

Anyway, Rin is also fragile. Or maybe it's Haruka the one who is too rough, because he broke one of Rin's ribs in his desperation to keep him alive. A nurse told him that it sometimes happens, and Sousuke said that a broken bone is better than death, but every time Rin's breath hitches due to the pain he probably feels Haruka looks at his hands with anger, as if it were their fault.

But Rin is strong too, because now he _breathes_ and his heart beats again and he sleeps with that calm expression he never wears when he's awake, and even though he's still pale his cheeks are a bit pink. And he sometimes frowns and moves his lips to mutter words nobody can make out, and he's not alright yet but at least he's alive.

Haruka knows Sousuke is asleep, but he wouldn't care if he weren't. He reaches out and brushes some strands of Rin's hair off his face. Rin's skin is warm again, and Haruka's fingertips yearn for that glow that at some point he thought he'd lost.

He knows he should go back to the sea; he saw Makoto's worried face, and now that fear doesn't strangle his heart anymore Haruka can't keep ignoring it, not even as he keeps brushing Rin's hair softly. He has to get back, fix the situation and break free from the responsibilities he never asked for. He's never wished to do what he wants so badly.

But leaving Rin like this doesn't seem like a good idea.

Deep down, Haruka knows everything he doesn't dare admit even to himself. But it's easier making it only about Rin's wellbeing.

"Your hands are cold."

Haruka flinches at the low, hoarse voice, but he doesn't pull back. He watches as Rin's eyes flutter open, swallowing down with the faint hope to drown the mischievous fish in his stomach. It doesn't work, and the fish swims faster when Rin manages to grab his hand.

"Your face is warm," Haruka replies. He gets lost in Rin's smile, distorted under the plastic mask. "You're stupid."

Rin frowns.

"Sousuke already told me that. Try something new."

"I broke your rib."

A loud laugh escapes Rin's lips, and he hugs himself as he tries to suppress it to not wake Sousuke up.

"Ow-ow! I've noticed," he mutters after some seconds, trying to breathe deeply without hurting himself. Haruka looks away as Rin takes his hand again. "Thank you."

Haruka raises an eyebrow.

"For breaking your rib?"

"For saving my life." Rin closes his eyes. " _Again_. I always end up being the damsel in distress, don't I?"

His grip on Haruka's hand weakens, making him worry.

"Are you alright?"

It takes almost a whole minute, but finally Rin nods.

"It's just…" He opens his eyes. "When I followed you, I thought– I was supposed to save you then… so we were even."

Lost in thought, Haruka sits on the side of the bed, never letting go of Rin's hand.

"If you insist on making this about equality… you did."

Rin tries to sit up, leaning on his elbows. "How so?"

"You're alive, aren't you?"

It looks like Rin doesn't think the same way Haruka does. His eyes widen, a furious blush spreading across his cheeks –and his heart definitely works now, it's so loud even a human could hear it, and Haruka doesn't understand how Sousuke is still asleep–, and he stutters before finding the right words:

"Y-You… You can't– That's… You can't just say things like that!"

"Why?"

Rin grabs Haruka's hand tighter.

"Dou you remember what we talked about human romantic relationships? That's…" Rin bites his lip. "That's the kind of thing you only say to your partner."

Haruka looks away.

"But it's true."

He feels Rin's hand squeezing his, and then the human tugs him and Haruka all but falls on him, miraculously leaning his hands on both sides of Rin's head to not hurt him. The human's arms snake around his back, and Haruka rests his head on his shoulder as Rin's chest lightly moves with his breathing, listening to his heart as it calms down.

"You're right," he whispers on Haruka's hair. "I'm stupid. But you are, too."

Haruka closes his eyes. He doesn't know how long he stays like that, breathing in Rin's scent as the hands that rest on his back cautiously move up and down. But when he's counted four hundred and eighteen beats, he feels Rin's voice vibrating on his chest.

"Why did you save me when I was a child?"

Haruka jerks his head up and looks at Rin.

"I told you. The adults were too heavy."

Rin shakes his head.

"I'm not asking why you didn't save the others."

Haruka's hands close into fists. He's been asking himself the same question for years, only to find out now that he's always known the answer.

"I couldn't let something so bright die in such a dark sea."

Slowly, carefully, Rin combs Haruka's dark hair with his fingers. For some minutes, they only stare at each other, letting the new reality Haruka's words have created flow around them.

Then Rin sighs.

"This is a farewell," he mumbles. "You have to go home now, don't you?"

Haruka nods, ignoring the odd feeling in his stomach when Rin calls the sea his home.

"The war is over. But I'm still their leader."

Rin closes his eyes again.

"Just visit me every now and then, okay?"

Haruka runs his index over the plastic mask, following the line of Rin's lips. That's one thing humans and sea people have in common; he's watched enough of Rin's movies to know that already. But whatever Rin is breathing must be more important than his selfishness, so Haruka's lips land on Rin's cheek.

"If you stop trying to drown yourself."

Rin smiles without opening his eyes.

"That wasn't very romantic."

Haruka stays there until Rin falls asleep. Then he gets up and walks out of the room, of the hospital, trying not to look back as he runs towards the beach.

.

Rin is discharged from the hospital some days later. Despite his and Sousuke's attempts to keep the incident a secret, both his mother and Gou find out about it. His mother threatens with grounding him despite the fact that he's already an adult, and Rin secretly thanks his sister for slapping him before breaking down before his eyes.

It takes more time for his rib to heal. Although it doesn't take long for the dark bruise Haruka's hands left on his chest to fade away, Rin can't work until he's perfectly fine; Sousuke does almost everything for him, to the point that one day Rin ends up yelling at him for acting like he's a useless child and storming off their apartment, only to come back some hours later and apologize, because he feels so, so sorry for scaring everyone the way he did. After that day, Rin gets some freedom back, but he tries to let Sousuke know he's thankful for his help.

When breathing stops being painful, but Rin still can't go to work, he develops the habit of walking to the beach and sitting on the rock he found Haruka on. He feels uneasy about being so close to the sea that wants his life as much as it wanted his father's, but he shakes his fear off when he stares at the surface, heart skipping a beat whenever he thinks something breaches.

Almost always, it's just his imagination.

One day he sees dolphins. He wishes he could talk to them.

Despite Sousuke's complaints, Rin doesn't sleep on his bed. It smells like the sea, like Haruka, and the first and only night he dares spend on it he wakes to a damp pillow and a hole within him that misses Haruka in more ways than he should. And it hurts so, so much that Rin is afraid his heart will stop beating again.

The next morning, Sousuke finds him cooking fish in the kitchen with dead eyes, and stops telling him to sleep on his bed.

"It's him, isn't it?" he whispers in an unusually soft voice.

"He said he'd come."

Sousuke stays silent until he drinks all his coffee.

"Rin, get over it. He must be happily swimming on his sea."

That day, Rin doesn't go to the beach.

.

Supposedly, Haruka stopped biting his tail whenever he felt anxious when he was eight.

The truth is that Haruka, aged twenty-three, the half-fish who can shift and stand on two legs, the former leader of the biggest sea people tribe in the Sea of Japan, has been biting his tail every night for the last weeks.

His grandmother would be horrified if she knew; she didn't raise him for that. But leaving teeth marks on his tail is all Haruka can do when the need of breaching and looking for certain human gets too unbearable. He knows he can't leave, not yet, and not knowing an exact date is driving him crazy.

Makoto tries to get him to move, if only to hunt some fish, but as soon as Haruka catches his mackerel he gets back to his seaweed bed, nibbling his tail when he's finished eating. He likes it better when it's warm and tender, and he can't get that without leaving his people.

Rei suspects what happened when Haruka was living on land. He's told him that getting involved with humans is dangerous, that they are a naturally treacherous species, but for Haruka it would've been the same if he'd blessed their existence. He doesn't care about humans, he cares about Rin.

It's strange, but Nagisa is the only one who knows the whole story. Haruka doesn't know why him, when the most logical option would have been telling Makoto, but when his friend dragged him to the depths to show him luminescent jellyfish Haruka found the will to speak. Maybe it was Nagisa because he doesn't understand as much as Rei about common sense, or because he's too carefree to worry as much as Makoto would.

"Wow," Nagisa breathed when Haruka finished his story and swam towards a red jellyfish to see it up close. "And you kissed your human to give him life?"

It hadn't occurred to Haruka that somebody could think about that as a kiss, but the more he turns it over in his mind the less he understands Nagisa's idea. It doesn't make sense. Kisses are supposed to be happy, and all he can remember about that day is the terror that took over his entire being.

If that was a kiss, Haruka doesn't want to kiss Rin ever again.

"How is it going?" he asks Makoto one day, after his friend slaps his tail away from his mouth. Haruka gets annoyed, but he can't really complain; his teeth are starting to break through the skin.

"They are happy with her for now," his friend explains. "No date yet," he adds, and Haruka breaks a shell he found the other day.

Maybe he's being childish.

What will you do when they allow you to leave?" Makoto asks curiously.

Haruka's mood improves drastically when his friend prompts him to talk about the promise he made to Rin. Only to get worse than ever when he remembers that he's closer to break it than he'd like.

That afternoon, Haruka sneaks to the rock Rin found him on not too long ago. The human isn't there, which saddens and relieves him at the same time. Regardless of his wishes, his priority is that Rin doesn't get himself in trouble.

When Haruka gets back to his seaweed bed, he bites his tail so hard he draws blood.

.

The first leaves are falling when Rin is allowed to get back to work.

He isn't as happy as he should be; he laughs at Mikoshiba's jokes and admits that yes, he's on a bad mood because his forced holidays are finally over, and even teases Sousuke when he feels his friend's concerned gaze on him. He quickly catches up with the latest cases; and not a week after he comes back he deals with an armed robbery pretty well, proving that one: he's perfectly fine; two: he's hopelessly reckless; and three: he's also lucky for getting away with only a bruised lip.

Being busy makes it easier to deal with the emptiness that tries to devour him from the inside every night; he's still afraid of sleeping on his own bed, but at least now he feels something that smells like anger whenever he thinks of Haruka.

Which is good, because Rin thinks about him quite often: whenever he eats fish or seafood, when Gou talks about her job at the aquarium, when Nakagawa tells them how excited her daughter got when she watched that movie about penguins. Even the day he opens his wardrobe and finds out someone got rid of Haruka's clothes he finds himself biting his lip as he makes sure Haruka's doodles are still there.

Rin doesn't think it's exactly healthy. Sousuke would agree if he knew half of the thoughts that cross his friend's mind.

He's wondering if Haruka even remembers the promise he made the day Sousuke has to arrest someone for indecent exposure. Rin is laughing at his friend's look even after he's long gone from the police station, looking at the leaves piling up on the sides of the street. There are few that haven't fallen yet.

Lost in thought, Rin almost falls from his chair when his phone rings. He frowns when he reads Sousuke's name on the screen.

"What's up?" he asks. Then, shamelessly: "How is your exhibitionist doing?"

"You see," Sousuke replies, in a surprisingly light tone, "he's absolutely harmless, so I'm going to adopt him."

" _What_?!"

"Don't be like that. Isn't it what you did with your fish, anyway?"

Rin runs his fingers through his hair.

"Haru isn't an exhibitionist. Sousuke, you can't just let anyone live with us– _God_ , you're the one who should be saying this."

"But you two would get along," Rin can tell Sousuke is having fun with this. "Actually, why don't you come to meet him? You'll be off duty in fifteen minutes anyway and he's saying something about a movie he'd like to watch…"

Rin has no idea of what Sousuke says next.

He's out of the station before he realizes he's hung up, and soon he's running towards their apartment, his heart beating louder than ever because _it can't be_ , Sousuke must be teasing him, maybe he's actually pissed off by Rin's jokes and he took it a little too far. But there's also something that tells Rin that his friend wouldn't be that cruel, and he's never told him anything about movies–

He's never talked to him about Haruka, not more than what Sousuke wanted to know.

Rin is out of breath when he reaches his home. His uniform cap has fallen from his head somewhere along the way and his hair is no longer tied into a ponytail, but he doesn't care about any of it as he fishes his key from his pocket and opens the door.

"Sousuke, what were–"

But he never finishes his question, because in that moment a curious face pokes out from his bedroom, and Rin can't do anything but look at his pale skin, his dark hair and the black clothes that are too big for him, at the bluest eyes he's ever seen, wide and shining with something that looks like the purest kind of joy.

"Rin," Haruka mutters, cautiously taking one step towards him, and that's everything Rin needs to remember how his body works and running towards him, forgetting that he hasn't taken his shoes off as he hugs Haruka and presses him towards his chest, feeling his slightly thinner arms embracing him too.

"It took longer than I thought," Haruka's apology gets muffled in Rin's shoulder. "Are you better than that time?"

"I'm better than ever," Rin replies, pulling back a bit to see Haruka's face. "But, you know, you sea people are really slow."

Haruka huffs.

"And you humans are really impatient."

For claiming such a thing, Haruka is the one who kisses Rin first. It's a quick, almost shy peck on the lips, and he looks away immediately, pink spreading across his cheeks. Rin can't help but graze Haruka's blush with his lips, hugging him tighter when Haruka's hand finds its way towards the back of his head, fingers tangling with red hair.

"Can I?" Haruka asks, his voice oddly hoarse. His eyes contain the sea and the sky and Rin feels like he's learning now what _blue_ means. "Can–"

"Please."

Maybe Haruka is right, maybe Rin is stupid; because it only takes a braver kiss for him to forget why he felt resentful in the first place. He loses the anger, as well as part of his sanity, somewhere between his lips and Haruka's, and he's more than willing to forgive those kisses' delay.

.

As he gets comfortable on Rin's bed, Haruka lets Sousuke explain the short version of what happened: that an old lady called the police when she saw him wandering around completely naked. He fiddles with the hem of Rin's sweatshirt, wondering where his clothes are and still feeling a bit guilty for taking so long.

"Moral of the story: humans don't like nudity." Rin smiles as he walks into the bedroom and sits next to Haruka.

"You've never minded," he replies.

Rin flushes.

"It's not like… You know, seeing you naked doesn't bother me. But I don't want to have to arrest you, so better go out well dressed." Haruka yawns and rubs his eyes. "Anyway, how long do you plan to live here?"

"I don't know." Haruka leans his head on Rin's shoulder. "But I'll have to drop by the sea every now and then so Makoto doesn't worry too much, I guess."

He can feel Rin tense.

"W-What? Are you staying?"

Haruka nods. "If you let me."

"Why?"

Haruka looks at him. He's been wondering the same thing ever since the first time Rin took him out.

"You said I can see the whole world. That's what I want to do." He frowns when the human doesn't say anything. "Is it wrong?"

"No…" Rin hastily shakes his head, blinking too quickly. He bites his lip. "It's just… It's fine. It's great. It's perfect."

"But?"

"You need to exist first." Haruka frowns. Last time he checked, he felt pretty solid and real. "I mean, legally. Like… You need documents that acknowledge your existence in the human world."

"Oh. How do I do that?"

Rin smiles.

"We'll have to ask Ai, he's good with computers."

Haruka leans on Rin when he feels his arms around his waist. They have never done this, but he likes it. He lets Rin caress his hair, his back, feeling lips brushing over his skin as he slowly drifts towards sleep. He didn't know he was so tired; it's only now that he doesn't feel the need to bite his tail anymore that he realizes how much sleep he's lost lately.

"Rin."

"Hm?"

"I want you to see the world with me."

Haruka vaguely thinks about how he should have phrased it better when Rin presses a kiss on the top of his head.

"Of course."

It's strange, to realize that he's falling asleep in the arms of the child he insists on saving from a curse, that he wants to be so close to that stupid human that not even air can blow between them, that he has decided to see a world he would have never cared about if he hadn't met Rin. It's odd being so sure that he'll do whatever it takes to change Rin's fate, to not let his light extinguish by the angry sea.

And Haruka doesn't regret it at all.


End file.
